acrylic over oil without primer?

samrwDecember 26, 2010

I just had most of my house painted with NATURA no-voc paint. I found out that they did not use primer on top of the previous oil based paint. They also used flat paint on everything, we have a toddler and thought we had agreed on a more washable/hiding finish. How bad is it to paint acrylic over oil without a primer? If it is bad, any suggested remedies?

It's not that bad of a thing to do, but if you decide to not use a primer, then the sanding is tremendously important. The surface has to be very dull and clean for the acrylic paint to stick well. You can test it by trying to remove some of the paint with your fingernails or apply some yellow tape to an area and pull it off to test the adhesion...inconspicuous areas of course. The only way to fix it is to remove the paint that is loosely adhered and then sand everything properly and repaint. You will very likely find that some of the paint is adhered and some is not....not very often is it a complete strip job. As far as painting with flat instead of a washable finish, most painters should know that is a bad idea. If you agreed on it, can you have them come back and apply the correct finish?